It was a beautiful autumn day, I had to reach for my jacket in the morning as the temperature was in the single digits. It was mid 20s by lunchtime so we decided to sit out in the gardens instead of standing at the tasting area. Hanging at the Ugly Duckling Wines for a late breakfast and wine tasting is a pretty good use of a Sunday I would have thought.

At lunch time, the crowds were minimal, there were a few bus arrivals but at this stage the numbers were low. I have been to Ugly Duckling Wines before on West Swan Road, I was not in the mood for a big meal, so the cheese board was a pretty good option. I had this before so I knew what we were getting. What I love about Ugly Duckling Wines is sitting in the grassed area, it is a fun and casual location, there is an old seeder in the middle of the ground as a showpiece and a newer Fiat tractor and trailer parked in the yard. I couldn’t believe it, we didn’t even bother tasting any wines this time, we were happy just sitting in the sun. The tasting area offers a photographer plenty of light and subject matter, what a mistake to not utilise on this fantastic autumn day.

I like driving around the Swan Valley looking for the old agricultural implements to photograph. We had already been up to the road train assembly area to see if there were any trailers being hitched, but we were a little disappointed, this ANZAC day long weekend just had trailers parked in the yard. In the future, I will drive around the back streets looking for old farmhouses and chalets, even old sheds make some great photography subjects as well as Swan Valley landscapes. We had good light and plenty of inspiration, all I needed was the right inspiration and ideas.

The Ukrainian drone attacks on the oil refinery in Tuapse on the Black Sea coast is around three quarters of the distance between Sevastopol and Sochi. So this is pretty impressive, Ukraine is innovating and gaining momentum. As Crimea is still occupied by Russian forces, this makes this oil refinery attack even more galling for the Russians. Ukraine has really turned a defensive strategy into actions damaging the Russian economy, they are not only losing soldiers on the frontlines, ordinary Russians are feeling the pain too.

Why? Well the war against Ukraine is supposed to be making the lives of Ukrainians unbearable, at home, well back from the front lines, Russians are supposed to feel safe and be unaffected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Instead, Ukrainian forces are now offensive and targeting assets deep inside Russian territory well away from the frontlines. The arrogance of Russians is laughable, they thought they would be destroying Ukraine [that is true] but now they are learning with the implementation of indigenous Ukrainian missile systems, whilst Western weapons were prohibited being used internally in Russia, now that Ukraine has developed their own missiles, they no longer have such targeting limitations.

For the Russian citizens in Tuapse, the black rain falling from the sky and polluting their city and lives are forcing them to rethink their support of the Russian/Ukrainian war. Their lives, their health, and their future is at stake here. Not only is Ukraine targeting income producing assets, this is directly affecting their morale. Naturally, the eco-disaster of their city and surrounding areas is dramatic, the fire has been burning uncontrolled for days causing mass pollution that will take a very long time to clear up. Maybe they should have thought about the consequences of their actions before supporting Putin.

So it finally happened, former Australian soldier and special forces fighter Ben Roberts-Smith has been arrested. The high profile arrest of former Special Air Service Regiment [SASR] at the domestic terminal of Sydney Airport was very much a media affair. Ben Roberts-Smith has previously told prosecutors he would voluntarily present at a police station to be arrested, instead he was dragged off a flight in what was a public and staged arrest.

Firstly, I make no such assumptions of guilt or innocence, what Ben Roberts-Smith must be afforded is the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. What I disagree with is the staged arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith as this further damages his reputation and possibly prejustices the trail. What we do know is the SASR was on increased operational tempo, the troopers were on back-to-back tours and under increased strain. I am not making excuses for any alleged unlawful conduct; however, these are criteria that must be factored into decisions. There has been much speculation that no commanding officers are facing charges, only troopers.

I have no idea if Ben Roberts-Smith is guilty or innocent, I certainly will not be speculating on this important issue. I can state facts though, Ben Roberts-Smith took Channel Nine to court for defamation, predominantly financed by Seven West Media owner Kerry Stokes. The civil matter based on the lower balance of probabilities criteria found that Ben Roberts-Smith was likely guilty of that criteria. I thought this was a terrible decision by his team, he exposed his case to scrutiny, this will likely be used in the criminal trial. This was basically a free look at what his defence would look like, a chance to take a look at defence witnesses.

I will be following the trial with much interest, this will be a highly visible trial and there will be many facets. What I noticed is the prosecutor has already explained the complexity of the case, there are no bodies, no blood splatter patterns, no shell casings, no cause of death and other forensic indicators. This occurred in another country, interviewing witnesses will be difficult, the time frame involved, these claims go back to the six tours from 2006 to 2012 with the war crimes alleged to have occurred between 2009 to 2012.

To meet the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt will be difficult, I will be watching the trial closely. What I do know is these troopers were not only trained to kill, they were authorised to kill combatants by the Australian government. What is to be proved by war crimes prosecutors is if Ben Roberts-Smith went beyond the rules of engagement and unlawfully killed non- combatants or detained combatants that no longer posed a threat to Australian forces. Given the extended time frames involved and lack of evidence, I will be very interested to see if the allegations are proven to the criminal standard. One might ask, is the prosecution just going through a process they believe will likely fail to counter the claim they are taking this matter seriously?

The Royal Australian Air Force leased and operated 24 F-4E Phantom aircraft from the United States Air Force in a ground attack role between the years of 1970 and 1973. This was about the time the federal government was withdrawing military forces engaged in the Vietnam war but the aircraft never served in the conflict. 

The F-4 Phantoms were leased from the United States Air Force only as an interim measure owing to continual delays in the delivery of 24 F-111C bomber aircraft. It could be argued the delays with the F-35 JSF bear many similarities to the F-111 with a further 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets purchased as a stop gap measure flying with 71 earlier F/A-18A/B aircraft purchased in the 1980s. Whilst the F-4s were considered well suited the Royal Australian Air Force, the federal government refused to agree with a Royal Australian Air Force proposal to retain the Phantoms after delivery of the F-111 aircraft in 1973 and the F-4s were returned to the USAF.

I had heard the term geographic arbitrage and didn’t really know what it was, so a little searching informed me that this is earning a high income in a high cost region compared to earning the same income and living in a low cost region. Whilst I wasn’t able to engage in geographic arbitrage during my working life, I will try this as a retiree.

When you engage in retirement arbitrage, you take your retirement in a lovely scenic place overseas to live a better quality of life. For Australians that is generally South East Asia with countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia. Of course developed countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea offer great opportunities but tend to be larger cities with higher costs.

For European heritage Australians whose families mostly emigrated to Australia in the 1950s, they typically consider returning to their native countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and the Slavic countries. Americans may look at Asia or Central America, but I typically do not hear of many Australians seriously looking at Central American countries.

I am looking for a country with warm weather in summer and reasonable facilities. For me, Portugal seems to offer plenty. I can spend my time in a scenic area with a great lifestyle and good summer weather. Likewise, Italy is also interesting if I stay out of the large tourist areas of Rome, Florence or Venice. Sure, if I can find a place in the countryside, the amazing Italian train network can get me most places. Even better, Italy has a reciprocal agreement with Australia for medical treatment. With a couple of years before I can retire early, I need to start planning.

Sam Jones, the American influencer who outraged almost the whole of Australia when she snatched a baby wombat from its mother. I really don’t know what an influencer is, I am guessing a social media identity who possesses a relatively large following. Whilst her online persona is Sam Jones, she is really Samantha Strable from Montana who posts online about hunting.

She has 91.6k followers and had only made 143 posts when I checked. It took me longer to find her Instagram page than it should have, samstrays_somewhere wasn’t really where I was looking though. She posts about fishing, hunting, and horse riding so apart from being an attractive woman, I am not seeing how she is an influencer. 

When it came to the wombat joey she picked up and ran off with, sure she made a mistake, but what a huge backlash. She was receiving death threats, this is getting a bit silly. If she just picked up the joey and got it straight back to its mother, it would not have blown up as it did. Instead, she ran towards the vehicle with the joey and mother screeching, her Australian boyfriend Louis Sixt who was filming and laughing really did not receive the same level of hate. 

Even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese got involved, Albo said “take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there” that I didn’t actually think was helpful. Whilst she issued an apology of sorts, she did not do this well either as she had a shot at farmers, the government and just about everyone else. She is a social media follower, she wanted to make a short video to publish for likes to gain more followers. She could have done it so much better, mistakes were made, but really, the backlash was too severe. The very online world she lives in and publishes content in turned out to be a whole lot more fickle and toxic than she expected.

As an AFL football fan we watch games where we see some not so great acts. For me, Collingwood thug Braydon Maynard ending the career of Melbourne’s Angus Braysure was especially galling. The AFL will in future years be hit with class action litigation based on the concussion of players, they have to be proactive now to prevent these actions.

Watching Ben Miller drop his knee into the head of Fremantle’s Jye Amiss was not a great look, Amiss had just returned to the team after requiring mandatory concussion protocols after a concussion two weeks earlier. Dropping your knee into a guy’s head after he just returned from a concussion is not a good look for the game.

Whilst Jye Amiss received a free kick that resulted in a goal stretching Fremantle’s lead to 54 points, this is not the point. This should never have happened, Richmond coach Adam Yze said in the coach’s press conference that there was no plan to target Amiss. What we know is Amiss was manhandled off the ball throughout the course of the game, the Richmond coach knew this and allowed it to happen.

What we saw occurring in Los Angeles was amazing in modern America, there have been riots before in LA. However, sending in the National Guard to quell rioting based on immigration squads roaming the streets is not what anyone expected, well that was before Donald Trump came to power anyway. It could have been brought under control easily, just stop the illegal deportations.

So now we are seeking on the news masked ICE agents riding around in black SUVs raiding streets, homes, and places of work. Remember the Trump lies before the election, “they are eating the cats, they are eating the dogs” to a believing crowd. Trump told blatent lies during the election [for starters] and his followers lapped it up, claims of voter fraud, any story that does not fit his narrative is decried as fake news.

It is clear Trump targeted a Democratic state, the Governor Gavin Newsom has hit back hard. Newsom now openly mocks Trump, he has taken a mocking and condescending approach to mimicking Trump. We all know how fragile Trump’s ego is, so this really irk him. Newsom has the strategy right, whilst no other Democrat can land a punch on Trump, Newsom is doing a splendid job.

What we are seeing with ICE is scenes out of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The Trump administration is targeting immigrants and deporting them en masse. I am seeing so many correlations with the Gestapo, the MAGA supporters are the Brown Shirts and Karoline Levitt is the head of Propaganda. No wonder the LA population was rioting, they stood up to an authoritarian regime when it was needed.

Fake watches are for fake people, that’s a pretty harsh assessment, probably not the negative advertising I would want to be associated with. So where did this advertising originate? Well, Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie [FHH] is an advisory board with the intent to promote watchmaking that is located in Geneva. This think tank engages in education, promotion and certification. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry [FHS] is to protect and promote the Swiss watch industry and is headquartered in Bienne, Switzerland.

Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie is a largely Richemont Group undertaking with Audemars Piguet, and Girard-Perregaux owned by Sowind Group along with Ulysse Nardin. The Richemont Group brands include Cartier, A. Lange & Söhne, Panerai, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, and IWC. Then there is TAG Heuer of LVMH and independent brands include Oris, Czapek, and Breitling.

The campaign was launched in 2009 at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie [SIHH], a trade show in Geneva. The SIHH was an invitation only event including authorised dealers and journalists, apparently some selected VIP collectors were also invited. The message is that wearing fake luxury implies that the person is not authentic, they are pretentious and lack humility, that is a hard message to sell. Then there is the issue that criminal networks produce fake goods, that is a real concern and a much easier message to promote.

There is the hommage, a design that is directly copied, I see so many cheap watchmakers replicate a Rolex Submariner or the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. Sure, the Gérald Genta designed Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus integrated bracelet design have been copied by watchmakers from Rolex, Chopard, Bulgari, Girard-Perregaux and Tissot to Citizen. So I ask, where does a design style infringe copyright? An integrated bracelet timepiece, a dive watch, a pilot’s watch or a field watch all correspond to certain design features.

When I am in Singapore I love eating out at Little India, it isn’t often you can relate excellent value to such a decent quality. In one such instance I was flicking through a menu to make my order, the waiter politely interrupted me to explain that I was selecting overlapping dishes. Instead, I could order this and this instead of what I was ordering to still obtain the varied tastes I was seeking.

This particular food already comes with these tastes and it will also be cheaper – hard to argue with this logic. Another trip and another restaurant I was arguing the bill, but not how bills are normally argued. On this occasion I was trying to tell them they have undercharged me, it couldn’t possibly be this cheap. She recalculated the bill at my insistence to find I was wrong and she was right all along. This is what I love about eating in Singapore’s Little India, great value combined with amazing food.